Originally Posted by
Frozenguy
Hi All,
I have a honeymoon coming up in July 2023 and I think Italy is going to be a winner destination. Still not 100% but it's close. I'd like to find some business class tickets from SFO to I think FCO. Maybe FLR. Currently I can book them for about 800k miles +~$1000USD round trip for the two of us. That sounds like not the greatest deal. Maybe it is. I don't have much experience in this space.
Id like the AF 777-300. Is KLM 787-10 a good option too? Delta's 767-400 is the third choice. Unfortunately I don't see their A330-900 or A350 going out there with the true delta suites.
I think business class to Italy, and either economy or premium economy back to SFO would be acceptable. Honestly my back/tailbone hurt a lot on long flights but maybe I can walk around. Any help/advice would be great. 400k of my points are AMEX MR points, the other 500k are delta sky miles.
You have flexibility with the Amex points. I am going to give you a couple of thoughts
From a mileage redemption perspective: Delta is going to the worst of the 3 mentioned for this. KLM probably the best with AF next.. You should check flying blue (do separate checks on KLM site and AF site as they show different miles for each others planes sometimes). If you don’t have a flying blue account, sign up for one. It will cover both airlines. There is also redemptions from Amex to them that sometimes give you an extra 20-25% boost on Amex points you push into flying blue. Flying blue redemptions will show high one day, then be reasonable another day. Keep checking. You will find some sweet spots for the summer still. Another new flying blue benefit, when you connect either thru Paris or Amsterdam they now offer the ability to stay longer in the connection city without having to book a separate flight. That also makes them more valuable than Delta for going to Europe. Finally it may make sense to buy the tickets on Amex international travel program and use your membership rewards to cover that cost. You’ll want to look at that too.
From a plane perspective: I have flown all the ones you listed multiple times. KLM 787-10 out of SFO is a good flight, good service, good food and good seat. Thats my first choice of the choices you listed. AF would be my second however only in the semi-old business class or the new business class (not many of those planes doing the US routes yet but there coming). If its the older business class, I would do the delta A350, A330 first. I like AF catering and wine choices the best though over Delta in all scenarios.
Finally Delta would all be connections from in the US vs the connection in Europe to get to Italy. I prefer the longer flight upfront so you’re sleeping better/longer then 5 hours to JFK/ATL and then another 6-7 hours to Italy.
Congratulations and enjoy your trip